Is Theresa May en route to a 'soft Brexit'? Will Big Ben bong to mark the big day? Are more ministers going to resign over Britain leaving the EU? And what does negotiating Britain's withdrawal have in common with a game of chess?

Chopper's Brexit Podcast has the answers.

Joining us today: Andrea Leadsom MP, Leader of the House of Commons who helped take the EU Withdrawal Bill through Parliament; Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, prominent Brexiteer and leader of the European Research Group, Lord Adonis, the Labour peer dubbed 'Remainer in Chief' and Andrea Jenkyns MP who quit as Parliamentary Private Secretary to speak out on Brexit.

Will the Conservatives’ biggest ever donor give to the party again? Is Brexit a modern version of the Suez Crisis? What’s it like to put at risk a 20-year friendship with the Prime Minister? And what can a South Georgian rat problem teach us about leaving the European Union?

Chopper’s Brexit Podcast has the answers.

On the guest list today: Stuart Wheeler, City financier and political activist; Phillip Lee MP, who resigned from the Government last week; Charlie Mullins, the Pimlico Plumbers founder and a former Tory donor; Robert Buckland MP, the solicitor general, who took the EU Withdrawal Bill through Parliament; data guru Henry Morris, on why going to public school matters to employers, and Lord Ridley, who updates us on the rats.

A leadership challenge against Theresa May is “very unlikely” according to former Brexit minister David Jones.

Mr Jones, who was sacked by Mrs May in January’s Cabinet reshuffle, told Chopper’s Brexit Podcast the Prime Minister had come out from this week’s votes as “an increased figure”.

He said: “It is very unlikely – I don’t see any reason why there should be. The fact is we should all now be focused on getting the best deal for the country as we go through the Brexit process.

“We have only got nine months until we leave the European Union. We couldn’t afford a three month Conservative leadership process which is what that would amount to.”

Mr Jones said Dominic Grieve, the former Attorney General, was “very unwise” to have been caught meeting with anti-Brexit groups like Best for Britain.

Mr Jones said: “He has been at pains to say that he has not been trying to damage the Brexit process but frankly attending what appeared to be secret meetings in Europe house which used to be Conservative party headquarters is not doing him any favours and I think he will live to regret that.”

Also on Chopper’s Brexit Podcast, Tim Bentinck, who plays the lead role of David Archer on Radio 4’s The Archers, says that the long-running serial is scrupulously about not being biased in favour of Brexit.

Bentinck said: “The Archers has always been apolitical. If they ever ever delve into politics you will find that one person will come up with one side of the argument, someone else will come up with the other side of the argument.

“That argument will be balanced and it will never be a resolution to that argument.”

Bentinck declined to say how the fictional characters voted in the referendum – but he suggested David Archer’s farming rival Brian Aldridge would have backed Leave.

He said: “Archers can’t be political – it really can't. Who knows what they actually voted in the referendum – but clearly Brian voted to leave didn’t he?”

Other guests are Tory MP Bob Seely, who has written a paper about Russia’s projection of its influence in the UK, Femi Oluwole , co-founder of Our Future, Our Choice on why the UK needs a second vote on the Brexit deal, and James Rothwell, the Telegraph’s Brexit Correspondent on the fate of Penka the cow.

Increasing taxes to fund a cash boost for hospitals could hit living standards and push wages’ growth into reverse, a Treasury minister Robert Jenrick has said in a rebuff to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Most Rev Justin Welby said Theresa May’s Government should find its “nerve” and "courage" to raise taxes to fund public services like the National Health Service.

There is a live debate in Whitehall over whether Mrs May should increase taxes to fund a £4billion cash injection for the NHS, ahead of the health service's 70th birthday next month.

But Mr Jenrick warned against more tax rises, telling Chopper’s Brexit Podcast today that the tax burden was “relatively high by historic standards, approaching the highest it has been for 50 years”.

He said: “I would be concerned not to increase taxes too much because living standards matter to people in this country – real wages just tipping into the positive.

“This is a moment where you have to be careful not see that pushed that into reverse.

“We have worked very hard to reduce taxes particularly for working people and those on lower incomes and we have had success at that.

“The tax burden in this country is still relatively high by historic standards – it is approaching the highest it has been for 50 years – so we have to be cautious about putting up more taxes particularly because the overriding concern has to be living standards.”

Mr Jenrick also suggested he was against forcing pensioners to pay National Insurance Contributions to fund the NHS.

He said: “That is a decision that will have to be made as we approach the budget – I think it is very important that people are encouraged to keep working if they are healthy and want to keep doing it… it is very important to the economy that they are incentivised to keep working.”

Mr Jenrick, who is backing a new 50p coin to mark Brexit, also said other coins could be minted.

He said: “You could do that for other coins but that really is a decision for the royal mint. In recent years the 50p coin has been the one that has been used most for commemorative coins.”

Other guests on today’s Chopper’s Brexit Podcast are: Robin Walker, an Exiting the European Union minister, Eloise Todd, chief executive of Best for Britain, Polly Mackenzie, chief executive of Demos and James Rothwell, the Telegraph’s Brexit correspondent.

There will be at least one resignation in the Cabinet when we see the terms of the Brexit deal in the Autumn, and it could be as many as four or five, a peer and former Labour minister says today.

Lord Adonis, a keen Remainer, forecasts a “crisis” in Parliament when MPs are presented with the Brexit treaty. He tells today’s Chopper’s Brexit Podcast talk of at least one resignation is the “common gossip in Westminster”.

Lord Adonis says: “I think it’s very unlikely to be someone from the right - the Prime Minister is giving in to them and giving them everything they want. It’s much more likely to be one of the pragmatic, sensible people who people who believe in British trade and don’t want to trash the country”.

The Labour peer is joined on the podcast by Conservative MP and Brexiteer Michael Tomlinson who dismissed the prediction as “wishful thinking”.

Lord Adonis believes the solution is to hold a second vote on the terms of the deal: “The issues involved are so great - they’re the most important issues since I’ve been involved in public life - the right thing in the Autumn would be for Parliament to refer the Treaty, when we see it, to the people for a people’s vote.”

Also on Chopper’s Brexit Podcast, available from 6am on Friday morning, Stanley Johnson, father of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and a one-time Remainer who says he became a Brexiteer for the sake of democracy.

But Mr Johnson doesn’t rule out a return to his former side: “Of course I’ve been loyal to Brexit, but if it appears to be the case that we’re not going to put in place the whole raft of EU measures which we have and we’re not going to achieve this enforcement mechanism which I think is vital, I wouldn’t say I might not change my mind.”

Other guests include the Telegraph’s Political Editor, Gordon Rayner; Brexit Editor, Dia Chakravarty; and Europe Editor, Peter Foster, and Chris Waterman who sings a familiar tune with a Brexit twist.